It is ground-breaking!

We’ve been doing great and we are so excited to show you where we’ve been since December.  

Unearthing our potential 

Since we last sent an update your way, a lot has changed. After the Soup Roast review, we took our winter break to not only relax but also to dive headfirst into the world of project budgeting. We wanted to better grasp the costs of our proposals and learn what we can and cannot do based on those numbers. This exercise has allowed us to explore a variety of new, and returning, options for play, landscaping, and park infrastructure with a higher level of focus. 

Enough money talk! With some refined eyes, our designs have taken major steps forward as well, especially with the park’s major infrastructure. We’ve chosen material for the parking areas, the walking trail and the basketball court along with their dimensions, orientations, and placements on the site. The next step is easy: figure out how to do it!

This project rocks

Along with the budgeting, material selection, and site placements of the new infrastructure pieces, the team began our first phases of site work in mid-January. To begin working on the park’s site, we had to prepare it by removing a lot of the existing infrastructure, including perimeter and baseball field fencing, the existing basketball surface, the field light poles, the baseball dugouts, and numerous others. 

Over the course of a week, the team, along with some helpers, was able to completely transform the park into a whole new space. While it might look a bit bare, we have big plans for it coming very soon!

Sowing the seeds for success

Now that the park has undergone its first phases of clean up, we have been moving right along with the project’s design and details. Since January the team has had the opportunity to meet face to face with many new visitors and reviewers. 

In February, David Hill, a landscape architect and professor from Auburn, met with the team and pushed us to think about how we could use our existing designs and materials to make the park feel like a cohesive project. In March, we met with Andrew Berman, an architect from New York, and Ted Flato, an architect from Texas, who both pushed the team to think about how to make the park a beautiful space using trees and the shape of the walking trail. All of these meetings have helped the team tremendously with the advancement of the design. 

So, what is next? Coming soon, we have our first executive review. This is the first of two formal project reviews that help make sure the project is on track. Between now and then, you can find us working hard but not without the occasional break outside to enjoy the springtime weather.  

See you next time!

– The Smith Park Team